The present invention relates generally to open bed trucks that use a tarp to cover the load, and more particularly to an apparatus for removing and replacing the bows used to support such tarps. The invention allows a driver to quickly and safely move the tarp and supporting bows between open and closed positions to facilitate loading and unloading an open bed truck.
Open bed trucks are used for hauling bulk material due to the ease of loading and unloading material. Such truck beds are frequently covered with tarps to prevent load material from blowing out of the bed during transit, and to prevent exposure of the load to weather conditions.
Typically, these tarps are supported over the bed by a multiplicity of bow elements placed across the width of the truck bed. The ends of the bows are usually held by brackets along the upper edge of the sides of the bed, with the bows extending up and across the truck bead to allow ample room for a load that may be higher in some places than the side walls. For a typical 16 to 40 foot load bed, four to ten tarp bows are normally used.
It is known to use a xe2x80x9croll-upxe2x80x9d system to remove the tarp from the truck, to allow material to be loaded or unloaded. These roll-up systems use a rod running the length of the tarp, and a handle to facilitate rolling the rod over the support bows. As the tarp rod is rolled over the bows, the tarp is rolled around the rod and off of the truck.
Removal of the support bows has not been so easy. Presently, removal of the bows requires an operator to mount the truck bed and manually disengage the bow ends from their brackets and remove each bow. This manual moving of tarp bows is a tedious and sometimes dangerous maneuver. An operator can easily fall into the load material or off the side of the truck, resulting in injury to the operator and/or to the load material. This is particularly true when the load in the bed is slippery (as, for example, with scrap sheet metal), or when the truck and its load are icy or wet.
A need therefore exists for an apparatus and system of operation that easily, quickly, and safely removes the support bows after a truck tarp has been rolled away from the truck. The present invention addresses that need.
Briefly describing one aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus and method for removing truck tarp support bows from their position over a truck bed. In one preferred embodiment the apparatus comprises a control bar positioned along the upper edge of one side of a truck bed, with a multiplicity of truck tarp bows extending radially from the bar. A lever for rotating the control bar is also attached to the bar. When the control bar is rotated outward, the bows rotate upward and away from the open truck bed providing uninhibited access to the truck bed for loading and unloading. When the control bar is rotated inward, the bows are lowered to extend across the truck bed to support the truck tarp thereon.
In another embodiment, a bracket for supporting the tarp after it has been rolled off of the bows is attached to the control bar. In this embodiment, the weight of the tarp can advantageously be used to assist in rotating the control bar outward, and in holding the bows in their xe2x80x9copenxe2x80x9d position.
One object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for allowing an operator to easily and safely remove truck tarp bows from their normal position above the truck bed.
Further objects and advantages will be apparent from the following description.